When I used to coach younger athletes, I was often quizzed by them, “well how come when I make a mistake, I get pulled and yet Holly stays in the games even if she makes lots of mistakes?”
Well, that’s a good question! Why did I leave her in? And while we’re at it, why do I have players sitting on the bench for the majority of the game and not playing out on the court?
Finally, after being quizzed about it and coming up with lame answers like, “You just keep working hard and your time will come” I realized I needed to sit the team down for an explanation. To accomplish that, I decided to use Monopoly money and the concept of volleyball banking. In the game of Monopoly, the player with the highest net worth wins.
We all know there is no substitute for time spent playing/practicing volleyball. References commonly indicate about 10,000 hours are needed to become an expert. In the book, “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell, he relates many stories about experts and how much time is spent practicing their craft. Dr. Anders Ericsson’s is widely recognized as the world’s leading researcher in the area of expertise and has also concluded that expert performance requires extended deliberate practice.
As soon as my 13s team approached the court, I could plainly see the difference in abilities. Some were gym rats, others had recently switched from soccer to volleyball, yet others were playing with hopes of making their school team.
In the first few practices, I carefully doled out their volleyball allowances in my mind. I was able to gather information about how much they had in their volleyball bank account based upon their performance on the court and the success they were able to achieve. Get 10 serves in a row, that’s a pretty good deposit in their account. Get 3 in, miss 2, get 4 in, miss 1, well maybe they didn’t get as much placed in their account. They were able to put more money in their account based on CONSISTENCY, I figured out. If they could perform a skill and do it well many times in a row, they deposited lots of money. If they were INCONSISTENT, not as much.
Finally, it was game time. As a coach, I put out a lineup that would do us well and score us maximum points. As the game wore on, those sitting on the bench began to fidget. I could easily see their minds thinking, “Am I gonna get to play?” As the rotations passed by, certain players subbed for front row, others subbed for serving and even others for back row. In the end, everyone did get to play and we were very close to winning. But we didn’t. So I changed some of the lineup for our next game and didn’t sub as much. This time we won! It was exciting, but I could tell that those who played less were disheartened. As a coach, that’s tough to see and harder to explain.
Two months into the season, a player asked me, “Coach, can I play more?” It’s hard to look into a 13 year old’s eyes and explain that “it could happen” while secretly knowing “probably not.” So I spent some time working out an explanation for the whole team. A way in which one could understand why they played a lot and why they didn’t play as much. It was simple for me. It was a Volleyball Bank Account.
With a whiteboard and Monopoly money, we assigned values to positive outcomes. $5 for a good pass. $10 for an ace. $5 for a spike, etc. We also assigned money values to negative outcomes. -$5 for a bad pass. -$10 for a serve in the net. -$5 for a spike in the net, etc. Everyone was handed uneven amounts of money to start with to simulate their abilities upon arriving to the team. I reminded them that money = skill. Lots of money = lots of skill. We placed the 6 top bank accounts on the court and simulated a game. Meredith gets an ace. Add $10 to her account. Monica gets a great set, adds $5 to her account. Jordie shanks a ball, subtract $5 from her account. Another ace by Meredith, +$10. Set by Monica, +$5. Meredith spike in the net, -$5. And so forth.
At some point mistakes happen and an evaluation needs to be made on the coach’s part. Do you pull the player because she is getting close to going bankrupt? Do you rest easy knowing the athlete has plenty of money in reserve to sustain her through the mishap? Every coach is different. Every coach makes gambles with players’ bank accounts in determining at what point a player is overdrawn or losing money too quickly. One coach might think a $100 loss is acceptable because the potential for gain is $300. Another coach might have a very low tolerance for risk and pull the athlete immediately after losing $20 on the court, even if there’s a possibility of gaining $200 later. Risk/reward. We play it in every practice and in every game. Choices are made based on each individual’s bank accounts.
The hardest part for athletes is knowing how much the coach THINKS they have in the bank and what the coach’s tolerance level for risk might be. If an athlete THINKS they have $500 in the bank, but a coach only THINKS they have $50, that’s where questions begin to arise. As a coach, I had to explain clearly what items put money in the bank. Being a good teammate, $10. On time to practice, $5. Working hard in practice, $15. One doesn’t always need skill to fill the bank account. Coaches like to see athletes be good teammates too and that helps their bank account.
In the end, the questioning 13 yr old had a rough season with minimal playing time. Her parents came to me at the end of the season and asked why she didn’t see much of the court. I explained the concept of talent as it refers to number of hours spent playing/practicing volleyball. Simply put, she just didn’t have as many hours as the others did. Then came the frank, but fair question, “How do you expect her to catch up if she never gets to play?” They were right! It’s HARD to catch up if she’s spending the same amount of time in each practice as the others and she’s falling behind when the others are on the court playing and she’s on the bench watching. Understanding as they were, we both knew that she needed more hours.
She did work hard and spent more time in the gym. She grew taller, which enabled her to get a few more opportunities in the front row. She continued to play and take lessons. Next year, she is going to play in college. Needless to say, her bank account has increased a lot since her 13 yr old playing days.
